Unconventional quantum critical points in systems of strongly interacting bosons

Using the combined Bogoliubov method and the quantum rotor approach, we map the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian of strongly interacting bosons onto U(1) phase action. By unraveling consequences of the nontrivial topology of the U(1) gauge group and the associated ground state degeneracy we found a close kinship of the zero-temperature divergence of the compressibility and the topological susceptibility at degeneracy points, which marks a novel quantum criticality governed by topological features rather than the Landau principle of the symmetry breaking. We argue that the existence of this new type of the criticality may be instrumental in explaining unconventional quantum critical points observed in superconducting cuprates.